johnnymk

Interesting Dilemma:

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2...not%20to%20pay

A Seminole man is fighting to stop alimony payments to his ex-wife because the woman is now a man.

Lawrence Roach says his ex-wife has had a sex change and is now living as a man with a new identity. Roach says he should be allowed discontinue $1,200 in monthly alimony payments.

"This isn't right. It's humiliating to me and degrading," Roach said. "You know, I'm a man and I don't want to be paying alimony to a man. If you can't be married to a man legally, how can you legally pay alimony to a man?"

Roach and his ex-wife, who Bay News 9 is not identifying, divorced 18 months ago after being married for more than 17 years. Roach said he should no longer have to make alimony payments because his ex-wife is no longer the person he married.

Bay News 9 legal analyst Joe Episcopo doubts that Roach will win his battle.

"His divorce decree is basically a contract that he has to follow," Viewer Center Poll

Click here for a viewer center poll on the issue.
Episcopo said. "Alimony is based on their relationship while they were married, not after the marriage is over."

Episcopo said unless Roach's ex-wife remarries or one of them dies he's required by law to pay alimony for life.

Sirrich3

Heard about this...can't wait to hear the outcome

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molecularfire

I don't see what the issue here is... so what if the woman had a sex change. Yeah, she's not the woman he married but how many times is the woman a person divorces the same as the woman they married (admittedly I've never been divorced but stands to reason to me that if the person you divorced was the same person you married, you wouldn't be divorcing them).

btw... does anyone know if a transvestite is allowed to marry a man... I mean genetically it's still a woman marrying a man so the argument could be made that it isn't a same sex marriage.

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KIISQueen

Regargless, he still needs to pay. so what if the ex changed her sex that has nothing to do with it. He needs to take care of his kids

Memo

I think he needs to pay, the contract is with a person, regardless of sex.

cadetevon

Bold mine.

Alimony is for the spouse only while child support is for the children. So far as I can tell from the article he's not contesting paying any childsupport, just only the alimony.

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KIISQueen

What an idiot I'am LOL, well He should pay even if the ex did change her sex. After all they were married once

DarkFury

Umm... alimony is a payment directly to an ex-wife regarless of kids. Based on the story as given, we don't know if he had kids... and if so, this sex change wouldn't affect any payments to his children... only to their momma-daddy.

I think you are getting this confused with "child support". Two entirely separate concepts... although some folks try to mix the two (like the momma taking the child's money to pay her own maintenance expenses and such... i.e. "hair and nails money").

Honestly, I know I'd be kinda miffed being stuck in a situation like this guy.


[edit] Oops... looks like Cadetevon beat me to the punch.

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KIISQueen

I know I did LOL

Maarchk

Why do we still pay alimony to women? What about equal rights? What if she made more money... I dont get how you earn the right to take someone elses money by being married to them... If i marry a rich girl for a few years do i get alimony?

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InfiniteNothing

You pay lost opportunity. If she was working and he was at home sacrificing his career, she'd have to pay alimony. Still, I think it's a pretty rare.

MikeD

With the limited info available in the article, I think he should still pay. Might change if we knew more about their financial situation, kids, etc.

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PlayBoyWorld

Wait--Joe Piscopo is a legal analyst now??

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avlena

well, in the situations I know of, alimony is paid to the wife because she didn't work, and instead supported her husband in his career. Thus, alimony allows the woman to survive for awhile after the divorce. I'm not sure what would happen with a couple where both worked, and the woman was wealthier.

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utcpal

well, what she does after the marriage shouldnt matter, I guess. Gotta pay. I guess, this is what the outcome is going to be.

molecularfire

If the law says that you need to pay alimony, I don't think that someone getting a sex change should change that... that said, I am against forced alimony payments. Sure, child support payments make sense because the child is not able to take care of himself/herself but there is no reason why a man or woman who got divorced can't get a job. If one person chose to sacrifice their carreer for another, that is their choice. The ramifications of such should be between the two of them, not the legal system.

Maarchk

"
Episcopo said unless Roach's ex-wife remarries or one of them dies he's required by law to pay alimony for life."

Thats the part that bugs me. Ok if i have a wife and she is taking care of the kids and only works part time or not at all, then can see alimony for some period of time.. Perhaps a year. We both pay for child support and we each take a child or rotate and some how split the responsibilities evenly.
But unless i foreced her to not graduate college or something, i dont see how she should not be responsible for herself at somepoint. She isn't the poor helpless woman. She hopefully is a capable human being just like the millions of women working in society. I guess it just seems very old fashioned to me. I grew up in Cali and dated girls who usually had a job just like i did, and while i did take them out to dinner as i felt it was the right thing to do, when we broke up, i didn't feel inclined to mail them dinners so they wouldn't miss out on what they may have "grown accustomed too."

That whole paying alimony for life thing just bugs the crap out of me.

riskykougra

If I were the guy I think the fact that it was probably my money that paid for the sex change that would really piss me off. Obviously if he/she can spend money on something like that, which is not a necessity of life, then maybe he/she doesnt really need alimony to survive. And the whole point of alimony is to keep the spouse living in the lifestyle they are accustomed to. But if you have so much money you can afford something like that then maybe the guy has a point. I wouldnt want to be the guy working my butt off to pay alimony only to have it spent on a sex change and not actually living expenses..

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Houdini

Interesting point. Should the legal system have any sayso as to how alimony is spent? At any rate, this Roach guy must be pretty $$, as sex-changes are pretty expensive.

Maarchk

"She was spose to buy ya shorty TYCO with ya money
She went to the doctor got lypo with ya money"

faither

Only in FL!!!!

sizemic1

The problem as I see it is he's obligated to pay the support until his ex remarries. What are the odds that she/he will actually find someone to marry her/him?

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